Knitting While Walking and Other Adventures

It’s been a busy week since I last posted. I’m still getting settled in my new home in Dublin, and figuring out the routine with the boys – they both play about a million sports and the only homework they need help with is in a language I don’t speak, so it’s been an interesting few days. But I’m getting the hang of it and hopefully things will be running a bit smoother next week. In terms of knitting, I’ve had loads of free time while the boys are at school, and I’ve nearly finished writing up a new design, one I’m hoping to publish next week.

Sneak peak of a new design coming next week!

I also met up with a couple of local knitting groups. On Sunday afternoon, I went up to the city centre to meet the Chicks with Sticks, a lovely group of women who welcomed me to their table, which strategically located next to the bathroom of the Costa Coffee so we could instruct tourists how to use the overly complicated door (seriously Costa, just a normal lock would do). Apparently I caught the Chicks on a bad day, as Pope Francis was also in town on Sunday, and it seems his presence was more important than our craft, or perhaps just made meeting up for our craft inconvenient.

On Wednesday night I joined the Dublin Drunken Knitwits at J.W. Sweetman’s pub on the quay for a pint of their craft beer and a bit of stupidly simple garter stitch that, of course, I managed to mess up. But only a tiny bit, and I managed to accidently repeat the same mistake on the opposite sleeve so it all evens out anyway.

Sweetman’s makes a damn good porter, by the way.

I also stopped by the nearest wool shop to my house, which happens to be Winnie’s Craft Café. This lovely shop is a yarn store at the front and a café at the back, where I had a delicious bowl of leek and potato soup after perusing the craft supplies. I didn’t buy anything; this was purely a reconnaissance mission – now I’ve had the whole week to decide what I need (lol) and I’ll be going back tomorrow to gather supplies for the weeks ahead – I have more ideas in my head right now than I could ever possibly knit, but sure I’m going to try my damnedest.

The younger of the boys I’m looking after caught me knitting and now wants to learn, so I’m going to pick up some needles and wool for him and his brother and save it for a rainy day activity (despite the stereotype, the last five days have been sunny and beautiful in Dublin). In exchange for me teaching him to knit, he’s trying to teach me Gaeilge (Irish). So far I know that the word for “pink” is just the words for “white” and “red” stuck together. “bán” + “dearg” = “bándearg”. Clever. I better study up, I’ve been told I have a quiz at the end of the week.

A new technique I taught myself this week is walking and knitting at the same time. And before you freak out about safety, I’m only knitting a stockinette hat in the round so I don’t have to look at my hands, I always have both eyes on the path and I always stop knitting when I’m crossing roads, I don’t knit when I’m walking with the boys, and I only knit when I’m walking the familiar routes to school or the train station. It’s actually a great way to not only get some knitting time in where I otherwise wouldn’t, but the 20-minute walks seem much shorter now. I’m going to be knitting a lot of stockinette stitch hats or socks from now on.

Knitting while walking means it’s so easy to stop for a quick picture with a pretty garden.

If you’ve read this far, thanks for bearing with me through this weird train-of-thought post. I normally write these around 9 or 10am after my second cup of coffee when I’m alert and coherent. It’s now half past nine in the evening and I’ve spent the day fighting with the Irish immigration registration website, attempting to fix a broken umbrella, and realizing that I fit into the stereotypical suburban sports mom aesthetic way too easily. Catch me next week walking the boys back from school carrying both of their rugby kit bags over my shoulders, a hurley and helmet in one hand and a latte in the other as I pull the little one away from the curb he’s always steering towards.

I honestly forgot it was Friday and that I was supposed to post, and I had nothing specific to write about so I thought I might try out just rambling about my week. It’s actually quite fun, and I might try it every few weeks if I don’t have a specific topic to address. I’m also planning on starting a video blog on Instagram every week for WIP Wednesday, in which (you guessed it!) I show off what I’m working on at the moment. Look out for that on Wednesday and come back here on Friday for a (hopefully) more organized and coherent post!